By the time they reached a hundred, I was faint from blood loss.
Pietro tossed my bag at me.
"Fucking useless bitch."
"Next time you touch Nadina, I'll kill you myself," Giacomo added. His right fist clenched and unclenched at his side, as though the violence he'd already dealt still wasn't enough.
They walked away.
I staggered to the side wall, pulling glass from my knees, barely holding back screams.
I tore an old dress hanging outside and wrapped my knees. I refused to let this stop me. If anything it made me want to cancel my identity more. My thumb found the inside of my left wrist without thinking, pressing into the skin there, and the fresh pain in my knees joined the older pain that never fully left.
I hailed a cab and went to the immigration office. I was attended to immediately by a junior agent.
"Are you sure about this? Once we sign these documents, Liliana Russo doesn't exist again," the agent said.
I nodded. "That's what I want."
He asked for my passport and I handed it over as he scanned it when suddenly red lights flashed, sirens blared, and alarms echoed through the room.
"What's happening?" I asked.